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Shell Pennsylvania ethane cracker

Shell’s Latest Feat: Quietly Ditching Its Eco-Friendly Recycling Pledge

Posted by John Donovan 17 July 2024

In the latest chapter of Shell’s never-ending saga of environmental hypocrisy, the oil giant has decided to backtrack on its grandiose promise to save the planet by recycling plastic waste. Back in 2022, Shell boldly claimed it would convert a whopping 1 million tonnes of plastic waste into oil every year through “advanced recycling.” Now, it turns out this pledge was about as solid as a politician’s promise.

“Advanced” or “chemical” recycling—just fancy terms for breaking down plastic with heat—was Shell’s supposed answer to the plastics pollution crisis. The company started investing in this pyrolysis process back in 2019, even using the resultant oil in a Louisiana plant and declaring its ambition to recycle 1 million tonnes of plastic by 2025. But as of their 2023 sustainability report, Shell quietly confessed: “[I]n 2023 we concluded that the scale of our ambition to turn 1m tonnes of plastic waste a year into pyrolysis oil by 2025 is unfeasible.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Toxic Wonderland: Pennsylvania Plant Spews Chemicals, Residents Rightfully Freak Out

Growing Alarm over Shell’s Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex. For the folks living near this chemical nightmare, the situation is beyond frightening. Many of them are suing Shell, presumably between checking their Geiger counters and donning hazmat suits to walk the dog

Posted by John Donovan: 3 July 2024

Ever since Shell announced its multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant in Beaver Court, Pennsylvania, we’ve been watching this environmental horror show unfold. 

Thanks to the Environmental Law Institute’s publication, “Ethane Trading in the Upper Ohio Valley: Potential Impacts, Regulatory Requirements, and Opportunities for Public Engagement,” we have a comprehensive rundown of the toxic cocktail Shell is generously pumping into the air. If you’ve ever wanted a full list of chemicals that sound like they belong in a supervillain’s lair, flip to pages 6 to 11. Benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene are just a few of the nasties on the roster, guaranteed to make your hair curl – or worse, depending on your proximity to the plant. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s New Hell Factory in Pennsylvania: Residents Basking in the Glow of Deadly Carcinogens

Posted by John Donovan: 28 June 2024

Welcome to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where Shell’s ethane cracker plant has turned the community into a living nightmare. Residents are now basking in the glow of carcinogens and other delightful chemicals that can cause blood disorders, convulsions, and breathing problems. Some folks have even fled the area.

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Shell, the beloved corporate villain, has once again proven that it’s never too late to outdo itself in the race to the bottom. Welcome to Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where Shell’s ethane cracker plant has turned the community into a living nightmare. Who could’ve guessed? Oh, wait – everyone.

What’s Happening?

In a dazzling display of corporate gaslighting, Shell promised Beaver County that its ethane cracker plant would be a magical land of employment, tax revenue, and economic bliss. So, Pennsylvania, in its infinite wisdom, handed Shell a cool $1.65 billion to set up shop. Fast forward two years, and surprise! The plant has racked up 23 violations of air quality and clean water standards, like a delinquent teenager collecting detention slips. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Emergency Drill at Cracker Plant: Because What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Posted by John Donovan 20 June 2024

Pennsylvania Shell ethylene cracker plant

Today at the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County, it’s not business as usual. Shell, the lovable titan of pollution, is conducting an emergency response drill. Yep, you read that right. The same company that brings you environmental disasters is practising how to handle one. The irony is delicious.

A Shell spokesperson stated that this drill is a regulatory requirement that must be completed every three years. Of course, because if there’s one thing Shell loves, it’s jumping through hoops to meet the bare minimum legal requirements. During today’s festivities, alarms will be blaring, and an emergency response team will be parading along the Ohio River. If you’re in the area and hear sirens, don’t panic—this time, it’s just a drill. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Generosity: Funding Air Monitors to Track Their Own Pollution

Posted 7 June 2024 by John Donovan

Pennsylvania Shell ethylene cracker plant

In a stunning display of corporate altruism, Shell, the benevolent oil giant known for its tender care of the environment, has graciously agreed to part with over $630,000. This sum, a mere trifle from the $10 million in penalties they’ve amassed, will be used by environmental watchdog groups to install five real-time air monitors throughout Beaver County. Because, you know, it’s easier just to keep track of how much pollution you’re breathing in rather than stop polluting.

The Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community (BCMAC) is partnering with the Environmental Health Project to deploy these monitors. According to a Monday news release, the goal is to “analyze, visualize and interpret the data collected from these monitors to help community members understand where the air pollution is coming from and what health outcomes they may expect.” Translation: “Let’s help you pinpoint exactly how Shell’s pollution is killing you.”

BCMAC will also “provide community education about air pollution and the health impacts associated with exposure to emissions from petrochemical facilities.” This initiative stems from activists’ long-standing demand for increased monitoring near Shell’s ethane cracker plant, which started operations in late 2022. Ah yes, education – because knowing you’re being poisoned is half the battle. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Grandiose Failure: How the Cracker Plant Stunk Up Beaver County

Posted by John Donovan: 4 June 2024

Well, well, well. Look who’s back in the headlines: Shell, the benevolent oil overlord, gracing us with its latest triumph. Remember that glorious cracker plant in Beaver County that was supposed to shower us with jobs and economic bliss? Yeah, that one. Turns out, it’s more of an economic disaster and environmental nightmare. Bravo, Shell!

Shell promised a “minor environmental impact” – a cute understatement considering they’ve racked up $10 million in fines for air pollution violations. Ah, the sweet smell of success. Beaver residents get to enjoy this lovely aroma while watching the supposed economic boom fizzle into a depressing bust. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Shovels Plastic into Pittsburgh’s Rivers!

The Shell plant sits on a site oozing with legacy contaminants like zinc, thallium, and aluminium. These nasties are happily leaching into the Ohio River.

POSTED BY JOHN DONOVAN: 16 MAY 2024

Once a month for nearly two years, Evan Clark, the Waterkeeper at Three Rivers Waterkeeper, has heroically boated along the Ohio River to Shell’s monstrous new plastics plant in Beaver County. This beast of a facility cranks out up to 1.6 million tons of plastic per year, thanks to the magic of fracked gas. Clark’s mission? To spot the devilish little plastic pellets known as nurdles and keep tabs on the plant’s wastewater outfalls. Spoiler alert: It’s not pretty.

Since the plant’s grand debut in the fall of 2022, Clark has detected strong chemical odours at the outfalls—red flags for contaminants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs). And the nurdles? He’s found them by the truckload. These tiny plastic fiends, used to make everything from soda bottles to car parts, are flooding the riverbanks. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Latest Masterpiece: The Monaca Meltdown

As Shell continues its relentless pollution, the true cost of their operations becomes clearer. The $12 million in fines they’ve paid so far is a mere drop in the ocean for a company that raked in $28 billion in profits in 2023. For Shell, pollution fines are just the cost of doing business—a cost that’s far too easy to pay.

Posted by John Donovan: 16 May 2024

Shell’s Monaca Monster: Beaver County’s New Worst Neighbour

When Jackie Shock-Stewart and her husband Matt Stewart moved to Beaver County, Pennsylvania in 2014, they were blissfully unaware that a petrochemical apocalypse was looming over their picturesque suburban paradise. Fast forward to 2016, and Shell decided to gift the county with a shiny new ethane cracker plant—a monstrous facility dedicated to churning out millions of tons of plastic and polluting the Ohio River. What a delightful surprise! read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Pennsylvania Plastics Plant: The Clean Air Saga Continues

Shell’s track record reads like a laundry list of environmental atrocities, complete with fines totalling over $10 million for exceeding pollution limits and casually dumping carcinogens into the Ohio River like it’s no big deal.

Posted by John Donovan: 28 March 2024

Shell Chemical Appalachia, the purveyor of pollution and champion of environmental negligence, is being dragged kicking and screaming into the realm of regulatory oversight. It’s about damn time!

For a whopping year and a half, Shell has been merrily chugging along under the guise of a construction permit, belching out more toxic fumes than a chimney on steroids. But fear not, concerned citizens, for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has finally decided to slap them with a reality check—a shiny new air pollution permit, complete with all the bells and whistles of federal Clean Air Act laws. Hooray for accountability! read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Air Pollution Permit Countdown: Tick-Tock, Time’s Up, Big Oil!

…who needs clean air when you can have profit margins as thick as the smog hanging over Shell’s conscience?

Posted by John Donovan 23 March 2024

In a surprising turn of events that may have Shell executives sweating more than just crude oil, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has issued a stern “get your act together” notice to the Shell ethane cracker plant. Essentially, they’ve slapped Shell with a deadline and said, “You’re time is up.” Yes, you read that correctly—apparently, even government agencies have given up on proper grammar when dealing with oil giants. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

“How to Pollute and Piss Off Your Neighbors” starring Shell

Posted by John Donovan: 20 Feb 24

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the latest episode of “How to Pollute and Piss Off Your Neighbors,” starring Shell, the ever-gracious host of Beaver County’s most talked-about bash. It’s not your average garden party, folks. This is a shindig where the aroma of ethane cracker emissions fills the air, and the ambiance is set by the gentle glow of flaring accidents and the melodious sounds of industrial clamor. Who needs Spotify playlists when you have the symphony of Shell’s ethane cracker plant serenading you?

In a twist that surprised absolutely nobody, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been playing party pooper, citing Shell for being the life of the pollution party a tad too enthusiastically. Shell, in a moment of magnanimity, didn’t bother to argue and agreed to a nearly $10 million “party fund” in fines and “contributions” to the community. But the hangover from this fête is far from over.

Enter John Flynn, a local resident who, unlike Shell, doesn’t think toxic emissions make for a great neighborhood ambiance. Flynn and his legal squad are aiming to turn this solo complaint into a class-action extravaganza, claiming the plant’s “substantial and unreasonable noxious odors, fugitive dust, and light emissions” have turned the area into the ultimate “private, public nuisance.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Magical Mystery Tour Convinces Pennsylvania to Fork Over $1.6 Billion for Plastic Paradise

Exceeding pollution limits faster than you can say “Abracadabra,” the plant has turned Beaver County into anything but the promised land of milk and honey.

Posted by John Donovan: 3 Feb 24

Once upon a time in 2012, the wizards at Shell, known for their love affair with all things oily and plastic, waved their wands (and wallets) to enchant Pennsylvania lawmakers into giving them a fairy-tale tax break. In this spellbinding saga, Shell promised to build a kingdom of polymer—a.k.a. an “ethane cracker”—capable of churning out single-use plastics galore, in exchange for a treasure chest worth $1.6 billion in tax incentives. Because what’s more enchanting than a mountain of plastic? read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Pennsylvania Plant: A Not-So-Smooth Start in the World of Ethylene Cracking

Posted by John Donovan: 7 Jan 2024

Welcome to the tale of Shell’s Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex, an ethylene cracker plant nestled in Potter Township, Pennsylvania.

This story begins with controversy, as most good stories do, which was so elegantly highlighted in an alarming New York Times article – “A Giant Factory Rises to Make a Product Filling up the World: Plastic” – published on August 2, 2019.

Fast forward to its first full year post a decade of planning and building, and oh boy, it’s been a rollercoaster! The plant had to press pause on production now and then for what they call ‘maintenance and adjustments.’ But wait, there’s more! It also caught the eye of state agencies, and not in a good way, racking up several citations for emissions and other trivial matters. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Happy Birthday, Shell Cracker Plant! Beaver County Wishes for a Less Polluted Future

Posted by John Donovan: 16 November 2023

Beaver County’s Shell cracker plant just celebrated its first birthday, and boy, did it get some gifts! A whopping 13 notices of violation and at least 26 malfunctions. It’s like the plant’s trying to set a new high score in the environmental harm game. The local community marked this “special” occasion by reminding everyone that Shell might not be the best neighbour.

Anaïs Peterson of Earthworks dropped some fun facts at the party: a nine-day benzene release and a 65-hour carbon monoxide emission event. Talk about party favours! And the guests of honour? Residents like Skyler Brimmeier, who can smell Shell’s operations before they even see their house, and others who have moved out because the Shell party just never ends.

But don’t worry, Shell’s been a good sport, doling out $10 million in fines for their environmental oopsies. Daniel Rossi-Keen of RiverWise gave a heartfelt toast, pointing out that good neighbours don’t typically pollute your air, water, and soil. Shell, however, reassured everyone that safety is their “top priority.” They’re probably just working on a different definition of safety than the rest of us. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Illusion of Economic Growth: Polymers Plant Leaves Beaver County High and Dry

Posted by John Donovan July 5, 2023

In a stunning turn of events, the Shell Polymers plant in Monaca, Beaver County, has failed to deliver the economic prosperity that was promised, according to a study conducted by the Ohio River Valley Institute. It seems that while the plant boasts a workforce of around 600 employees, it has actually resulted in a net loss of jobs and hindered economic growth in the county.

The researchers behind the study used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics spanning from 2012 to 2022, leading them to the undeniable conclusion that Shell’s presence has had a detrimental impact on the local economy. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Explosive Outrage in Beaver County as Shell’s Polluting Monstrosity Faces Public Backlash

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Shell should be held accountable and forced to either halt production or significantly reduce emissions for the sake of the environment and public safety.

Posted by John Donovan: 10 June 2023

BEAVER, Pa.- In a stunning display of frustration and anger, Beaver County residents have had enough of Shell’s relentless assault on the environment with its cracker plant. Since its opening last year, the Shell Polymers Monaca plant, also known as the Shell cracker plant, has been a cesspool of pollution violations, leaving local residents reeling.

On Thursday, a gathering of approximately 50 members from the Shell Accountability Campaign descended upon downtown Beaver to make their voices heard. The residents have reached their boiling point, demanding that leaders take action against Shell’s blatant disregard for the community’s health and well-being.

“We’re not asking for much, just a little thing called a livable environment,” sarcastically quipped Dustin White Sr. “I guess Shell thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to sacrifice our health and the health of our workers for the sake of their bloated profits. How considerate of them.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.